Sex really seems to get better as you age: Study

Washington, July 9 (IANS) Age is no bar to good sex, says a study of the increasing numbers of sexually active 70-year-olds, both men and women. Increasing number of such women reported having greater satisfaction, more women experienced orgasm during sex and fewer reported never having had one, according to the study.

Knowledge about sexual behaviour in 70-year-olds is scanty, with even less being known about “normal” sexual behaviour in the 70s’ group.

Nils Beckman and colleagues from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden studied attitudes to sex among four representative samples of 70-year-olds in the country, whom they interviewed over a 30-year period.

Over 1,500 people were interviewed about aspects of their sex lives including sexual dysfunctions, marital satisfaction and sexual activity.

The authors found that over the 30-year period, the number of 70-year-olds of both sexes reported having more sex.

The data included married men who saw numbers rise from 52 percent to 98 percent, married women from 38 percent to 56 percent, unmarried men from 30 percent to 54 percent and unmarried women from 0.8 percent to 12 percent.

The authors also noted that the number of men reporting erectile dysfunction decreased, whereas the proportion reporting ejaculation dysfunction increased, but the proportion reporting premature ejaculation did not change.

Interestingly, both men and women blame men when sexual intercourse stops between them. This finding replicates the results of other studies in the 1950s and in 2005-06.

“Our study… shows that most elderly people consider sexual activity and associated feelings a natural part of later life,” the researchers concluded.